wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Same chapter, different verse

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7690 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Same chapter, different verse
03245
May 19, 2003

Same chapter, different verse

Jensen takes a new tack, basing heresy charge on doctrinal grounds
	
by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - The Virginia lawyer who has accused more than 20 Presbyterian
ministers of failing to uphold the so-called "fidelity/chastity" provision of
The Book of Order has charged a North Carolina pastor with heresy on
doctrinal grounds.
	
Paul Rolf Jensen filed the complaint against the Rev. W. Robert Martin III, a
member of Western North Carolina Presbytery who is transferring to the
Presbytery of San Jose in California, where he has been called to be pastor
of First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto.
	
According to Jensen, who was not present, Martin said during his examination
before San Jose Presbytery in April that he does not believe in the bodily
resurrection of Jesus or His ascension into Heaven "as taught by the
confessions and scripture."
	
The constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) requires Western North
Carolina Presbytery to appoint a committee to investigate Jensen's
allegation.
	
Martin is now the pastor of Warren Wilson Presbyterian Church of Swannanoa,
NC, and a chaplain at Warren Wilson College, a Presbyterian-related school. 
	
On the heels of his accusations, Jensen is asking congregations in both
presbyteries to withhold "all per-capita giving," and urging "faithful
Presbyterians" to demand the resignation of the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the
denomination's stated clerk.
	
The Presbyterian church hasn't held a heresy trial since the 1920s.
	
More than 60 percent of the members of San Jose Presbytery voted to receive
Martin, according to John F. Lococo, the presbytery stated clerk. He said his
office will assist the Presbytery of Western North Carolina in its
investigation.
	
Jensen is accusing Martin of heresy and of several instances of "willful
violation" of his ordination vows, including failure to be instructed by the
essential tenets of the Reformed faith as articulated in the confessions, and
failure to accept the scriptures as the "unique and authoritative witness" to
Jesus Christ. 
	
The Presbytery of Western North Carolina voted on April 29 to approve
Martin's transfer as of July 1. Until then he remains a member of the North
Carolina presbytery. 
	
Jensen told the Presbyterian News Service that he doesn't differentiate
between behavior and belief in acting against "heretics and apostates" in the
church. 
	
"It is the same point - somebody is defying the constitution," he said by
telephone, equating the action of ordaining sexually active homosexuals and
unbelief in the bodily resurrection. "To me, it is exactly the same issue." 
	
Martin and officials of Western North Carolina Presbytery declined to
comment, noting that disciplinary actions in the PC(USA) ordinarily are kept
confidential unless and until charges are substantiated by an investigating
committee.
	
However, the session of the Palo Alto church that has called Martin spoke up
in his defense, issuing a statement in which it said it will "materially,
financially and spiritually" support him. The First Presbyterian session said
it is confident that the PC(USA) judicial system will exonerate Martin. It
also noted that the Presbyterian church elected during the 1920s to tolerate
a diversity of views about the bodily resurrection of Jesus. 
	
The Rev. Nan Swanson, Palo Alto First's interim pastor, said: "We regret that
certain minority factions of the PC(USA) continue to sow division through
their ongoing campaign of litigation against Presbyterians who don't conform
to certain 19th-century conceptions of orthodoxy. 
	
"When dozens of PC(USA) churches are forced to spend hundreds of thousands of
dollars and countless hours responding to legal actions, the true work of the
Church - feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, preaching the gospel - gets
put on hold."
	
A remedial case against Martin before the Permanent Judicial Commission of
the Synod of the Pacific will be dropped this week, Jensen said, because the
complainants, a minister and an elder in San Jose Presbytery, have withdrawn
their complaint. 
	
Jensen said he is worried about the possibility that "pressure was brought to
bear" on the complainants. Lococo said they simply came to believe judicial
action is unwarranted and "dialogue between brothers and sisters" is a more
appropriate means of resolving the matter. 
	
Jensen is a member of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church of Newport Beach, CA,
whose session and pastor, the Rev. John Huffman, have disavowed his actions. 
	
To date, only one of his cases has been tried in a church court. In that
case, the Rev. Steve Van Kuiken, the pastor of a gay-affirming church in
Cincinnati, was found guilty of performing same-sex marriages. Van Kuiken was
found not guilty of participating in the ordinations of deacons and elders in
violation of section G-6.0106b of the Book of Order.
	
Jensen also represented the Akron, OH, church that filed charges against the
denomination's moderator, the Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel, for failing to call a
special General Assembly to address what Jensen calls widespread defiance of
the constitution. The PC(USA)'s Permanent Judicial Commission ruled that
Abu-Akel's decision not to call a special Assembly was warranted, but that he
should not have urged commissioners who had requested it to change their
minds.	
	
Defiance of the PC(USA) constitution is the issue over which Jensen believes
Kirkpatrick ought to be removed from office. He argues that Kirkpatrick is
obligated to act against defiant ministers, sessions and presbyteries.
	The Office of the General Assembly (OGA) maintains that the stated
clerk has a duty to support presbytery and synod courts, but should not
interfere in judicial processes. The Rev. Mark Tammen, an OGA spokesperson,
said the clerk's job is "to resource presbyteries as they work through their
processes." 
	
Jensen told the Presbyterian News Service that he intends to continue working
to have Kirkpatrick removed from office, if necessary by rallying opposition
to a possible third four-year term for Kirkpatrick when his current term
expires next spring. But he said he would like to see more immediate action,
and hopes a commissioner to the upcoming General Assembly will file a
resolution to declare the stated clerk's office vacant. 
	
Jensen said he is determined to reverse a theological trend that he claims is
turning the PC(USA) into a Universalist church. 
	
"Like I told you before," he said, "I'm not going to stop. Sorry." 
  

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